BERKELEY – While it’s a somber occasion, marking September as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month is done to give people hope.
According to the American Cancer Society, almost 10,000 diagnoses are expected this year in children in the United States. Worldwide, that estimate climbs to 200,000.
“A staggering statistic is that one out of every six children who are diagnosed with cancer won’t live past five years. The research that has been funded has pushed that time longer, and improved the quality of life for those years, but the fight is not over,” Mayor John Bacchione said, while presenting a certificate to the family of Emiliana Rose O’Brien, who passed away on December 1, 2015 at just 13 years of age.
September 17 is Emiliana Day in Berkeley. The township has long supported the family that continues to raise funds and awareness for childhood cancer. They’ve urged their residents to wear gold bows or the businesses to place gold bows prominently. This to show compassion and spread awareness of this cruel disease.
Emiliana’s mother, Janet, had said Emiliana had some medical complaints in January of 2015, but they had been called tendonitis and other things by doctors. It took months before the diagnosis came of osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer.
Doctors fought hard with radiation and chemotherapy. Emiliana fought hard, too, never giving up hope. That’s why her family started a foundation called Emiliana’s Hope, to help ease the suffering and spread information about this disease that no one wants to think about.
Her mother has said that Emiliana would ask “Why doesn’t anyone know anything about my cancer?”
The gold bows let people “understand that there are students and siblings who are suffering,” she said.
Emiliana’s Hope has raised more than $90,000 for osteosarcoma research.
On September 18, lemonade sales in Berkeley schools during lunch periods will raise funds for Emiliana’s Hope.
Visit EmilianasHope.com for more information. Their online fundraising is at gofundme.com/emiliana-shope
Scouts Honored
In other news, Boy Scout Pack 78 were celebrated for a clean-up they did recently.
“They go out and maintain on the west side of Serpentine Drive. They’re out there picking up the garbage that people throw out of the windows of their cars,” Bacchione said.
The town doles out a $500 Clean Communities grant to groups who adopt a road.
“Let’s take pride in our community,” he said.
